Another Case for Quality Over Quantity

Most of us have been taught to value “more” over “less.” The more we have, the better off we are.

If two of something is good, then surely three of that same thing is better!

In the Internet world, quantity often means little because it is so relative depending upon the context in which it us used.

Here’s an example.

Most business owners would think that being able to contact 5,000 prospects in a single sales pitch campaign would be a big deal.

In the offline world that is certainly the case.

But if your message is being broadcast via email, and you’re trying to choose between two options (say, for instance, sending your message to 45,000 prospects compared to 50,000) that extra 5,000 may not be a very significant amount.

I wanted to mention the case for quality over quantity related to renting lists of prospects from a list broker.

Which list is preferable? One containing 100,000 contacts that may have some interest in what you’re selling . . . or . . .

A list containing 2,000 names that has been compiled of folks that purchased a similar product in your same niche within the past six months to a year?

Chances are very good, proven by many years of experience in customer targeting and sales tracking, that the 2,000 names will produce more sales and better customers for you than the list of 50 times that size (the 100,000 contact list).

Even when the smaller list is more expensive to rent, it will almost always pay you to spend the extra money for the better quality list.

Here’s the math . . .

List #1: 100,000 names, some have an interest, 1 in 500 visit your web site, of those that visit, 2 of every 100 buy your $79 product. Cost of renting List #1: $100.00

List#2: 2,000 names, most have an interest, 1 in 10 visit your web site, of those that visit, 10 of every 100 buy your $79 product. Cost of renting List #2: $500.00

Which is the better buy (value) for your business?

Money generated by List #1: $158.00 minus the list cost ($100) leaving a total of $58.00

Money generated by List #2: $1,580 minus the list cost ($500) leaving a total of $1,080

The human inclination is to evaluate the list rental based upon the relative cost of each prospect.

Our minds have been trained to look for a way to compare the cost of each option.

List #1 costs $1 per thousand names.

List #2 costs $250 per thousand names.

The choice of lists based solely on cost is a no-brainer.

What most people don’t realize, however, is that list targeting can make one list 100 times more effective than another (or more).

You find out about targeting and list effectiveness by experimenting (or “testing and tracking” as it’s known in online marketing).

Rent a small number of names at first to test the drawing power of the list.

If it can be rented profitably, you are in a position to continue testing and maximizing your offer with the purchase of larger and larger numbers of names. In essence, you “climb the ladder” with the number of names you rent each time with the goal of continually optimizing your offer through small trials which give you a positive return.

If you simply blow all your ad budget on one single “blind” trial you may be taken out of the game completely with a negative return.